Various types of video-game machines which permit a plurality of players to play against one another have conventionally been proposed or are currently in use. A known example of an arcade game system is configured such that a plurality of video-game machines (hereinafter referred to simply as game machines) of the same model are connected to one another by a network (and a server), such as a local area network (LAN) or the Internet, to enable a plurality of players to play a competitive game in a common game space.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-168740 and 2005-131298 each describe a mahjong game played by four competing players by use of four game machines which are connected to one another by a network. In an actual mahjong game, each player arranges his or her mahjong tiles in an upright position with the marked (pattern) side of each tile facing himself or herself so that his or her opponents can not see the tiles. To simulate such a situation on a game screen of each game machine, tile objects representing a player's own mahjong tiles are presented face up so that the player can visually recognize the types of the tiles whereas tile objects representing his or her opponents' mahjong tiles are presented in a reversed upright position (or face down) so that the opponents can not visually recognize the types of the tiles. As illustrated in FIG. 21 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-168740 and FIG. 5 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-131298, tile objects representing mahjong tiles of one player are displayed in a visually recognizable fashion in a lower part of a game playing screen whereas tile objects representing mahjong tiles of opponent players are displayed face down in a visually unrecognizable fashion in upper, left and right parts of the game playing screen. For the sake of explanation in the present Specification, a player who plays against his or her opponent players is hereinafter referred to as a primary player.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-131298 also describes a display control method which allows a primary player to alter the arrangement of his or her mahjong tile objects by designating a tile object to be moved and specifying a new location of the designated tile object by use of a touch panel. In this display control method, the game machine of the primary player who rearranges the tile objects transmits information on his or her tile rearrangement operation to the other game machines operated by the opponent players so that the opponent players can observe on the respective game screens how the primary player is going to rearrange the tile objects in a true-to-life appearance.
While the individual game machines used for playing a mahjong game present the tile objects of the opponent players uniformly in a visually unrecognizable fashion as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-168740 and 2005-131298 cited above, this display method, if employed alone, tends to cause the participating players to loose interest in playing the mahjong game because the players feel that the game always played in this way is less eventful and less exciting. In fact, persons participating in a mahjong game conducted by game machines sometimes wish to play the mahjong game according to different mahjong rules. One approach to satisfying this requirement would be to present the game screen of the game machine operated by the primary player and the game screens of the game machines operated by the opponent players in different ways. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-131298 proposes an arrangement in which a display method used for presenting information concerning a tile object designating action made by the primary player on his or her game screen differs from a display method used for presenting information concerning tile object designating actions made by the opponent players on the respective game screens, thereby creating realistic sensations. However, this approach employing a combination of these two different display methods is related simply to how each player designates a tile object to be moved on the game screen of the game machine and is not intended to present information concerning tile objects gained by each player in an easily recognizable fashion.